Preventing Plagiarism Kristine Brancolini, Dean University Libraries

Outline Plagiarism Defined Legal Context: U.S. Constitution, Copyright Law, Fair Use Students The Internet Plagiarism Detection Software and Services Other Options Internet Resources on Plagiarism

Plagiarism Defined “ Taking the writings or literary concepts (a plot, characters, words) of another and selling and/or publishing them as one's own product. Quotes which are brief or are acknowledged as quotes do not constitute plagiarism. The actual author can bring a lawsuit for appropriation of his/her work against the plagiarist and recover the profits. Normally plagiarism is not a crime, but it can be used as the basis of a fraud charge or copyright infringement if prior creation can be proved.” Source: Law.com Law Dictionary

Two Forms Copying work that is protected by copyright – without permission Copying work that is produced by someone else, but you have their permission to use it – “term paper mills,” friends Start with a brief discussion of copyright. Not always illegal.

Legal Context: The U.S. Constitution The Congress shall have Power... To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries. (United States Constitution, Article I, Section 8) Embodied in Article 17 of the United States Code.

§ 106. Exclusive rights in copyrighted works The owner of copyright to a literary or artistic property (such as a book, movie or musical composition) has the exclusive right to do and to authorize the following: print, copy, sell, license, distribute, transform to another medium, translate, record or perform or otherwise use (or not use) the work. Title 17 of the United States Code

§ 107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use “Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.”

Instructional Setting In an instructional setting, plagiarism occurs when a writer deliberately uses someone else’s language, ideas, or other original (not common-knowledge) material without acknowledging its source. But is it plagiarism or ignorance of proper use and citation of sources?

The Continuum: Some students -- Simply do not know how to cite the work of others. Do not know when to cite the work of others. Fail to cite works properly. Work together when they should be working independently. Turn in the same paper twice. Are these last examples plagiarism? May be difficult to determine intent.

Clearly Plagiarism Buying, stealing, or borrowing a paper (including, of course, copying an entire paper or article from the Web); Hiring someone to write a paper for you; and Copying large sections of text from a source without quotation marks or proper citation.

Special Problems/Solutions in the Internet Age World Wide Web provides plagiarists with a rich library of material from which to gather information Provides professors with a powerful tool to check sources and catch plagiarists.

Internet Tools to Detect Plagiarism Search key phrases on Google; in EBSCO and ProQuest Search texts through amazon.com or Google Book/Google Scholar Free term paper sites, such as There’s a long list on the Plagiarism Prevention website: “Plagiarism Prevention.” arism.html arism.html

Software/Services [1/2] There are software and online services that supposedly detect plagiarism, but there are numerous ethical and practical problems associated with services like turnitin.com Ethical: They keep your student’s paper and put it in their database, without permission. Practical: The program does not detect quotation marks. Frequent false positives.

Software/Services [2/2] Breed complacency. Too many ways students can circumvent the system. If wrong, can seriously damage a student’s reputation; potential legal ramifications for the university. See Dehnart citation for more problems and his experience with Plagiarism.org.

Other Options Explain the difference between plagiarism and proper attribution. Insure that students know how to paraphrase properly, when to quote, and how to cite properly; librarians can help with this and often incorporate it into library instruction. Create assignments that are plagiarism-proof. More from KJ soon…

Internet Resources on Plagiarism [1/5] “Avoiding Plagiarism: The OWL at Purdue.” Revised by Karl Stolley, edited by Dana Lynn Driscoll, September 20, URL: esource/589/01/ esource/589/01/

Internet Resources on Avoiding Plagiarism [2/5] “Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism: The WPA Statement on Best Practices.” The Council of Writing Program Administrators. URL:

Internet Resources on Avoiding Plagiarism [3/5] Dehnart, Andy. “The Web’s Plagiarism Police.” Salon.com, June 14,1999. URL: /06/14/plagiarism/print.html /06/14/plagiarism/print.html

Internet Resources on Avoiding Plagiarism [4/5] “Internet Detective Tutorial,” June 13, From the UK, so the copyright law is different, but this is a very clever presentation. URL:

Internet Resources on Avoiding Plagiarism [5/5] “Plagiarism Prevention.” Karmann Library, University of Wisconsin Platteville. URL: ence/plagiarism.html. ence/plagiarism.html